


The Switch

by Vinnocent



Series: Teen Titans: Morph! [8]
Category: Animorphs - Katherine A. Applegate, DCU, Teen Titans (Animated Series)
Genre: Episode: s01e07 Switched, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-22
Updated: 2014-04-22
Packaged: 2018-01-20 11:10:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1508357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vinnocent/pseuds/Vinnocent
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Raven and Starfire are body-switched during an attack by Puppet King, Raven notices that she is not alone in Starfire's mind.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> X'hal is another reference to DCU. I don't think the Tamaranean deity was ever mentioned in the show.

As Starfire slept soundly, Phyzzon stared at the like-formed doll that she had placed on her bedside table. He didn't like it. Whatever excuses she made for human culture and "fandom," he found the thing disturbing on a level he couldn't explain.

He closed Starfire's eyes and tried to sleep as well. He knew it did her body no benefit to be kept up late, but Yeerks did not sleep on the same cycles as Tamaraneans. (And neither slept on the same cycles as humans.) As much as he could pull her cranial switches and levers to get her through any physical issue, he could not do the same for himself.

The door hissed open.

Phyzzon was up in a flash, peering around in the darkness. The Starfire puppet was still there by the bed, but he heard the bedroom door hiss closed. "Who is there?" he demanded.

But no reply came.

Something was not sitting well with him. He pulled them off the bed and walked out into the hall. "Hello?" he called looking around as another door in the distance hissed closed.

He ventured further down the hall. "Is someone there?"

When he came to a junction, he tried to look around in the dark. Starfire did not have great night vision. "Hello?"

"AHAHAHA" came the reply.

Well.

That wasn't good.

He really wished people would stop breaking into the Titans Tower. "Kitty Kitty?" he called, hoping the robotic security could shed some light on the matter. But the orb did not emerge. No small animals had been detected up here.

He ventured further down the hall, toward the giggling. "If this is a joke, it is not--!" He was cut off by a door sliding open behind him. He spun around, raising a green-glowing hand, which startled Raven into shouting.

He lowered Starfire's hand. "Raven? You have also heard the strange noises?" he asked.

"The strange noises of you talking outside my door?" Raven suggested blandly, but there was an edge of irritation to it, as there often was with Raven. "Hard to miss."

Oops. "Oh, forgive me," he said, shifting nervously. "I thought there was someone heEEE!" He yelled and jumped back as Cyborg's sonic canon shot between them.

The girls turned to see Robin, Cyborg, and Beast Boy all running toward them, ready to fight, eyes glowing blue. Robin jumped forward, attempting to kick Starfire, and Phyzzon flew out of reach.

"Yeerks?" Raven demanded as Beast Boy attempted to take bites out of her with some kind of large reptile form. "How?"

"Yeerks do not glow," Phyzzon said patiently, raising Starfire's fists.

"Don't make me hurt you!" Raven pled with Beast Boy as Phyzzon shot down Robin's birdarangs. Unfortunately, he did not see Cyborg behind him, who grabbed Starfire's foot and pulled her down. Phyzzon shouted, and Beast Boy tossed Raven into Cyborg's grip, both girls now held captive.

"Let me go!" Raven objected.

"Teen Titans, why do you attack us?" Phyzzon demanded, and Raven gave him a suspicious look.

"Oh," said a voice in the dark. "They're not _your_ Teen Titans anymore." A puppet walked into view. "They are my puppets." He held out the doll likenesses of Robin, Beast Boy, and Cyborg who, eerily, pled for their help.

" _You_ are a puppet!" Phyzzon cried in surprise at the villain's visage.

"No, I am Puppet King!" he snapped angrily. "And you don't command me. I command you."

Phyzzon tilted Starfire's head. "I did not attempt to command you."

" _I'm_ commanding you!" Raven snapped. "Release them!"

But Puppet King held up his glowing control device, and Beast Boy and Robin --or, actually, their puppeted bodies-- held up the Starfire and Raven dolls. Starfire's mind started to rouse as Puppet King pulled on her soul. <Phyzzon? What is happening? What is--?>

<STARFIRE! STAY HERE! HOLD ON! YOU HAVE TO STAY HERE!> Phyzzon ordered, having no idea how to control something so metaphysical. He could control her hormones, manipulate her neurons, do anything that was needed to her body. But he could not grip her soul.

"Az-ah-rath…" Raven struggled.

<PHYZZON! HELP ME! I AM SCARED!> Starfire screamed as she began to be pulled away into the puppet.

<HOLD ON!> he demanded, attempting to grab at her by sheer force of will which, of course, accomplished nothing.

"Met-ri-on…"

<STARFIRE! KORIAND'R, ANSWER ME!>

"With Puppet King pulling the strings, the Teen Titans will command the entire city."

Well, was _he_ in for a surprise when he found out there was another invasion equipped with heroes.

"Xin… thos…"

The puppeted Titans collapsed, and the control device was tossed aside. Puppet King scrambled for it, but the souls were already knocked loose again. By the time he picked it up, the girls were fleeing.

Horrified, Phyzzon pulled back in Starfire's brain. No, this was wrong. This was very wrong.

The girls fled down to the next floor and then dropped into a subfloor area. The Tower was full of hidden spaces just in case. They waited until the boys had passed by, and then Phyzzon felt Starfire's body reach out to turn on the light, but it wasn't Starfire in control.

Raven was on her knees, gripping her head in horror. "No! No, where has he gone?! What has Puppet King done?!"

"You're me!" said Starfire. No, _Raven_! It was Raven in Starfire's body and mind!

Raven's head shot up, far more expressive than it ever was before. "On X'hal! And you are me!" Starfire nervously began to stand. "You are me!" Then, she gasped. She went to her feet and ran to Raven.

Raven gripped her stomach --Starfire's stomach-- feeling suddenly nervous. She didn't understand why. "Is there something wrong with your body?"

Starfire ran over and gripped Raven's --her own-- head with Raven's hands. "Raven, please tell me. Are you alone?"

"What?" Raven gaped up at her, confused.

"This is very important!" Starfire insisted, and Raven felt Starfire's stomach churn. She felt like she was going to throw up, but she wasn't nervous at all. Were the minds still somehow connected to the proper bodies? "Are you alone in your mind?" Starfire demanded, terror clear on Raven's face.

"What? Of course, I am."

<No. You are not.>

Raven screamed. "Oh! What is that?! What's happening?"

"Raven?! Phyzzon?!"

<Please do not panic. I am not engaged for control. My name is Phyzzon 355. I am Kor-- I am Starfire's Yeerk.>

Raven gritted her teeth. She wouldn't get angry. She would not get angry. She took a long shaking breath and released it, all the while ignoring Starfire's urgent pleading. Finally, she pushed Starfire off of her, and gestured --not angrily-- to her head. To Starfire's head. "Starfire. What. Is. This?"


	2. Chapter 2

"Oh, Raven!" Starfire cried, pulling herself out of a sewer entrance onto the streets of Jump City. "This is awful! Terribly, horribly awful!"

"Tell me about it," Raven drawled.

"Very well," said Starfire, starting to walk down the street. "Robin, Cyborg, and Beast Boy have been trapped inside tiny wooden bodies," a newspaper box exploded off into space like a rocket. "while a nasty creature called the Puppet King has taken control of their real bodies," a fire hydrant exploded with fountains of water. "which he is using to hunt us down," Another newspaper box erupted a stream of papers out into the street. "and you and I are in the wrong bodies," A lamp post contorted and hissed at them like a snake. "and I am certain that you and Phyzzon hate each other," A parking meter melted. "and--"

"Starfire, you have to calm down," said Raven. "My powers are driven by emotion. The more you feel, the more energy you unleash."

Starfire turned to her friend desperately. "I can't just adapt to a new body like that! Phyzzon could, though. If you let him--"

"Believe me, I would love to. But he refuses," Raven explained. "He's worried about neural merging fusing us to the wrong pathways more permanently. He has disconnected every link except communication and sensory reception. He refuses to act aside from giving me pointers and trying to relay messages."

Starfire paused in her fretting and the window behind her stopped melting. "Messages?"

Raven sighed. "'Be brave.' 'You can do this.' Et cetera."

Starfire smiled. The remnants of the window behind her exploded, and she shrieked.

Raven glowered. "Please stop feeling things."

"Happiness too?!" Starfire demanded angrily, and bricks in the building next to her began to crumble slowly. "Who suppresses happiness?"

Raven raised Starfire's hand.

"Oh." Starfire blushed.

"And you'll have to learn to do it, too," Raven chastised. 

"But what if they find us?" Starfire worried. "What if our friends are doomed? What if I am stuck looking like _this_ forever?"

Raven glowered. "I am not sure if I or the Yeerk should be more concerned about that last one." She put a hand on Starfire's --her own-- shoulder. "Look, we'll fix it. I don't know how, but we will rescue the boys, and we will get our bodies back."

Starfire nodded resolutely. "I will try to calm down," she promised. She took a deep breath and spread her arms in poor mimicry of Raven's meditation stances. "Peace. Quiet. Tranqui--" The car next to her suddenly rolled over.

"We are so doomed," Raven drawled.

There was a caw above them, and Starfire pointed toward the dark figure in the night sky. "Beast Boy!"

"You mean 'Zombie Beast Boy,'" said Raven, grabbing Starfire's --her-- arm and heading down an alley. "Run!" As they ran, she kept hopping and waving her arms. "Hunh! Hunh! Fly! Fly! Will you tell the Yeerk to be quiet? I can't concentrate."

"What is he doing?" Starfire asked, running along behind her own body.

"Telling me a story." Raven growled.

"Listen!" Starfire urged. "He's trying to make you happy!"

Raven slowed down. "You don't understand! If I allow myself--!"

"In _your_ body," said Starfire, looking around for Beast Boy. "In my body, you must feel the unbridled joy of flight."

"What?" And then, suddenly, she was somewhere else. She couldn't see anything. Not in the usual way. But she felt and heard. She was surrounded by friends. By joy and completion. By friendly competition. By shared knowledge. By singing. By the warm beams of Kandrona.

She giggled, and the memory disappeared. She found herself hovering several inches over her own body, which was cheering happily and thus upturning the asphalt.

"RRROOOOOOWR!" said the green tiger ahead of them. Quickly, Raven grabbed Starfire, closed her eyes, and concentrated on the lingering feelings of joy. Pretended they were hers. Pretended she liked them. Pretended she wanted to feel more of it. Pretended she was the least bit comfortable with the concept.

The green tiger barely missed swiping Starfire's --Raven's-- leg as they floated gently away. Starfire sighed heavily. "Do you think perhaps you could be maybe a small amount _more_ happy?"

"Hey, if it wasn't for your friend's weird memories, I wouldn't be getting _this_."

Starfire gasped and pouted up at her. "I thought he said he didn't want to connect with you!"

"Apparently, death was more of a threat than mismatched connections," Raven drawled.

Starfire screamed and clung to Raven as the green condor flew up at them again, startling Raven. Decidedly unhappy, she began to fall to Earth again. "LEVITATE!" she commanded.

"HOW?!" Starfire screamed, terrified.

"THE WORDS I ALWAYS--!"

"AZARATH METRION XINTHOS!"

"NO, WAIT!" But it was too late. They were already rocketing through the air. Well, at least they were away from Beast Boy.

Starfire looked back at Raven. "I wish to stop!" she pleaded. "Please tell me the way to stop!"

"Look at the ground and imagine-- Wait!" Raven shouted as they shot directly down into a pile of garbage.

Disgusted, Starfire pulled herself up as Raven desperately tossed garbage bags this way and that. "I smell like the breath of a Snervian blork worm," she complained. "Raven! What are you--?"

"Ssh!" Raven warned, shoving a hand to Starfire's --Raven's-- face to quiet her. They ducked down and watched as Robin and Cyborg passed, looking around for them. Raven's powers began to activate again, and Raven glared at Starfire in warning. Whimpering, Starfire turned and put her hands above her head in a different poor imitation of Raven's meditation stances. "Peace. Quiet. Tranquility," she chanted urgently. "Peace. Quiet. Tranquility. Peace. Quiet. Tranquility."

Raven smiled at her. "It's alright," she said. "They're going." But as they watched Robin and Cyborg move on, a green rat appeared on the garbage pile.

Starfire gasped, but Raven grabbed her and pulled her back. It sniffed and sniffed, climbing around on the bags, growing ever closer. Even Raven began to feel nervous.

"Enough!" called the Puppet King, and Beast Boy's body ran off to join Robin's and Cyborg's. "We will catch the other two after the ceremony is complete."

"Ceremony?" demanded Robin's wooden puppet.

"What ceremony?" added Cyborg's wooden puppet.

"Just a little spell that will destroy you three and make your bodies mine forever." He turned his attention to the controlled bodies. "Come, puppets."

They walked away.

The girls relaxed and eventually emerged from their hiding place. "How can you stand having this much hair?" Raven asked, trying to tug Starfire's hair straight and out of the way.

"Quickly, Raven!" Starfire urged. "Our friends are in danger! We must follow and--"

"And what?" Raven demanded. "Save them with my unusable powers while your unbridled emotions blow us to bits? Nice flying, by the way."

Raven's body began flaming darkly. "At least I am able to fly! On my planet, even a newborn can unleash the joy of flight! But you are too busy being grumpy and rude to feel anything at all!" she shouted at a Raven who was paying no attention at all.

"What are you, a tactician?" Raven suddenly demanded, and it took Starfire a moment to realize she was yelling at Phyzzon. Raven's expression mellowed. "Oh. Fine then, what's _your_ brilliant idea?" Raven's --Starfire's-- eyes grew wide, and then Raven looked away.

"What did he say?" Starfire asked, running around into Raven's field of vision eagerly.

Raven sighed. "He suggests that we share memories."

"Oh, I see," said Starfire. She thought about that. "I can see why you would not wish to, but… But he is right! If you and I are to overcome this ordeal, we must know everything about each other." She opened her arms. "So begin sharing."

Raven knelt on the ground. "Alright," she said, and Starfire quickly joined her. "I was born in a place called Azarath."

\-- --

Gently, they floated up over the broken down Bijou theater, and Raven deposited Starfire onto the roof. Starfire jumped and clapped excitedly. "Very! Very! Good! What was your joyful thought?"

Raven looked away. "You don't want to know," she mumbled.

"Oh, but I do!" Starfire insisted. "Please tell me. What did you imagine?"

Raven scrunched Starfire's face. "You not talking…?"

Starfire deflated. "Oh. Well. I am glad I was able to help."

"Your turn," said Raven, changing the subject. "Find your center. Focus your energy on the lock." She pointed to the roof hatch.

Starfire nodded, concentarted, and chanted, "Azarath. Metrion. Xinthos." The lock floated upward, then broke in half. Starfire giggled happily to see her results.

Raven was pleasantly surprised. "Nice work!" she praised.

"SUCCESS!" Starfire rooted, and the doors of the hatch crashed open loudly.

Raven smirked. "Nice work," she repeated.

\-- --

Overhead, Starfire and Raven watched from the catwalk as the Puppet King prepared his spell. "No," Raven gasped. The Puppet King picked up his Robin, Cyborg, and Beast Boy dolls and held them over a flaming bowl.

"Azarath. Metrion. Xinthos," Starfire chanted carefully, and the second the Puppet King dropped the dolls, Raven's magic caught them and brought them up to Starfire. She clung to them joyously. "My friends! You are unharmed!"

"Starfire?" gasped the Robin puppet.

"It's a long story," said Raven. She spied their friends' bodies meeting them for the attack again, and she grabbed Starfire by the arm. "Move!"

They fled down the catwalk, but a batty Beast Boy was already ahead, blocking their path. Robin jumped onto the path behind them. Cyborg came in at the side. They didn't have time to react! The controlled Cyborg shot them with his sonic canon!

They tumbled over the side of the catwalk, the dolls falling free of Starfire's grip. The girls turned in the air as each remembered happy flight and calm levitation. They glanced at each other, then split up. Robin chased after Starfire. Positioning herself on another catwalk, Starfire held up her hands in plea. "Robin, I do not wish to fight you!"

Robin kicked at her and, when she dodged, grabbed Raven's cloak and threw her. Starfire shouted as she went tumbling across the catwalk. Robin continued to approach her, and she pulled herself up. "But I will if I must!" she said, raising Raven's hand and concentrating.

The sandbag was tossed over the side of the catwalk, and Robin's entangled leg was pulled after it, taking him out of danger.

Just nearby, Raven was still trying to outfly the leaping Cyborg and Beast Boy. She screamed as Beast Boy's gorilla form grabbed her and pulled her down onto another catwalk. She quickly got Starfire's feet under her and kicked him away with more power than she'd ever felt before. She flew to the end, where she was backed against a wall.

"Okay, Raven, Starbolts," she told herself. "Just let go of your emotions, feel the righteous fury, and--" She gasped and flew aside just as Cyborg's fist punched through the wall where her face had been. Beast Boy crushed the catwalk beneath her and, startled, she fell, screaming on her way down.

Suddenly, she was flooded with emotion. Joy. Confidence. Eyes glowing green, she soared up again and clocked Beast Boy right in the jaw. He tumbled back. Cyborg came swinging at her and kicked her through the railing of the remaining catwalk.

She flew aside, turned, tumbled, and rocketed a downward kick, forcing him off his rope. He fell, and Starfire gasped. "Azarath, Metrion, Xinthos!" she said quickly, moving Cyborg's falling body away from the helpless puppets on the floor.

She shrieked as she barely dodged a falling sandbag. She looked up to see Robin falling down toward her headfirst like a missile. It was very un-Robin-like. Still holding Cyborg, she tossed him into Robin's side, sending both tumbling away.

The gorilla came down on Raven, who desperately raised her fists. "Righteous fury. Righteous fury. Concentrate!" The green power in her fists blinked as she was flooded with the necessary hormones but refused, automatically, to embrace them. Instead, she flew away, but the gorilla grabbed Starfire's ankle and slammed her down.

Starfire shrieked for help below her, and Raven kicked the gorilla aside, flew up to a support beam, kicked off of it, and shot down at Robin, shoving him off of Starfire's catwalk. "Not me!" Starfire called. "Them!" she pointed down to where the Puppet King was running with the dolls toward the fire.

Fury.

"NO!" Raven screamed, punching an arm forward and guiding a Starbolt straight to the Puppet King as she still held Robin in the other arm. He fell aside, and his control device fell into the fire. He shouted in dismay. The fire spiraled up into a demonic face. The Puppet King's face lit with blue light from the inside. Robin, Beast Boy, and Cyborg's souls were ripped free of their dolls and sent back into their bodies. Starfire and Raven, too, were sent back where they belonged, entwining, briefly, on the way.

Starfire gasped in shock, carefully trying not to drop Robin.

<Starfire?!> a familiar voice begged.

She grinned broadly. <Yes! I am me! It is so good to hear your voice again, Phyzzon.>

Joy filled her like a bright, burning light, and it felt so good to finally be home. She flew to the ground and deposited the now awoken Robin as Raven jumped down to meet her. "I am me!" she cried happily. She turned to Raven, arms spread in celebration. "And you are you!"

"And we're us!" cried Cyborg, joining the group with Beast Boy.

"Thanks to you two!" Robin congratulated them.

"You go, girls!" Beast Boy whooped.

"Raven! We have done it!" Starfire gasped, pulling her friend into a tight embrace.

"You are hugging me," Raven groaned.

"No!" screamed the Puppet King, pulling their attention away. "The magic!" he moaned. "Without it, I'm just a--"

He fell limp to the floor.

Phyzzon shuddered through Starfire's body. "Can we go home now?" he asked with her voice, fully connected to her once more. Starfire grinned.


	3. Chapter 3

Raven hovered in front of a bay of windows in the main room in her usual meditative position. "Azarath. Metrion. Xinthos," she chanted. "Azarath. Metrion. Xinthos."

"Raven?" Starfire asked quietly, and Raven winced, attempting to ignore her. "Forgive my interruption, but--"

"No, I haven't seen Robin, Cyborg, _or_ Beast Boy," Raven grumbled.

"Truthfully… I am… wishing to join you in meditation," she said nervously.

Raven hesitated, then looked behind her. "Really?" she asked. She glanced around to ensure they were alone, but not even the cat was active. "Phyzzon, too?"

Starfire looked at her curiously. "We have differing reasons, but yes."

"Differing reasons?"

"Well, I would like to spend time with you in a way that you enjoy," Starfire explained with a hopeful smile. "Phyzzon simply likes to learn things. But even if he did not, it is my body. I am allowed to meditate if I like."

Raven frowned slightly. "So he… is not… friendly? Toward me?"

"Of course, he is!" Starfire said, flying over to Raven's side. "He says he just… likes you better from a distance." She smiled kindly. "Not wishing to share a brain is not the same as not wishing to be your friend."

Raven thought about that. She supposed she wouldn't want to share a brain with Beast Boy. So then the problem was chemistry, not simply her… her-ness. She nodded to Starfire. "Alright then." She raised her arms. "Find your center."

Starfire patiently copied her stance exactly. Well, almost exactly.

"Focus your energies, and…" They began chanting together easily. Starfire was meditating well. Too well, considering what she'd been like the other day. Raven opened her eyes and glanced at Starfire. "Starfire?" she asked.

"Yes?"

"Is he… helping?"

Starfire smiled. "Yes!" Then, her smile suddenly broke into alarm. "Oh! Is he not supposed to? Is that cheating?"

"No," said Raven, looking out at the scenery. "I don't think it is." She hesitated. "Starfire, do you--" She sighed heavily. "When we are done with this, do you want to go to he mall?"

It wasn't the question she wanted to ask, but it made her just a little bit happy to see her friend smile so beautifully.


End file.
